(2006-05-30) Hercules Blocks Walmart

The City Council of Hercules Ca used Eminent Domain to block WalMart. The area is the centerpiece of Hercules' redevelopment effort, which aims to create a destination on par with high-end Sausalito across the bay. That would complement Hercules' plan to market itself as an "anti-SubUrb" with new neighborhoods appealing to home buyers nostalgic for old-fashioned residential areas within cities. The unusual move stunned California's big-box retailers, who usually benefit from eminent domain, which allows government to take private property for its use or for use by third parties if their projects would benefit the public. "To use eminent domain is such an abuse of the process," said Rex Hime, president of the California Business Properties Association, which represents large retailers (Big Retail)... Wal-Mart opponents in Hercules say its presence would blight their town, the first in California with planning codes guided by "NewUrbanism," a school of Urban Design focused on Pedestrian-oriented Neighborhood-s mixed with homes and shops and lacking big-box retailers (Big Retail).